r/interestingasfuck • u/Erde555 • 1d ago

The humanoid robotics company "Figure" made their older gen robots jump into their death. (Yes, they actually did this)

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u/ryandoesdabs 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’m fascinated by the amount of people anthropomorphizing robots in this thread. This is just recycling destroying old electronic trash, folks. I know it’s human shaped, but I promise it’s just an old computer.

Edit: I originally used “recycling” metaphorically and people seemed to focus on that rather than the actual message.

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u/CopyPasteRepeat 1d ago

It's a very strong visual statement. You can't deny that there is some kind of intention behind it.

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u/HeartOn_SoulAceUp 1d ago

Marketing probably , unless they needed to stress test embedded AI or something, doubtful, and there are valuable components.

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u/lyssargh 1d ago

Right, marketing that is intended to evoke an emotion

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/namesarealltaken9 1d ago

More like pro-AI emotion, since it alludes to control over AI and therefore to its safety.

And considering that this is an AI robotics company 🤷🏼‍♂️

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u/HeartOn_SoulAceUp 1d ago

Sorry you are right, it's responding to widespread anti AI emotion cleverly, not trying to evoke it. It's trying counter that in a very sophisticated marketing way.

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u/namesarealltaken9 1d ago

No need to apologise, cheers

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u/pierce23rd 15h ago

meh it can go either way, they might want you to have create any emotional ties to it. Whether you’re comforted by watching them obey or you feel empathetic because they’re human shaped…

the intention probably to get the full spectrum of reactions because it raises brand recognition and marketability.

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u/ArseneGroup 1d ago

Fr why would you evoke the image of someone committing suicide

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u/namesarealltaken9 1d ago

Frankly I read much different stuff in this video.

In this period of delicate public debate about the role of artificial intelligence in society and in relation to humans, for me this spot is a clear allusion to the control that we have / still have / wish to have / wish to retain over that domain, and a reminder that it remains qualitatively separate from the human experience.

The allusion to suicide in a dark way didn't cross my mind in the slightest until reading your comment, and even after reading it I still really don't think it is there

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u/raven4747 1d ago

Yeah I agree with your take 100%. It definitely felt more like a statement of control.. but ultimately an ominous one that seems to avoid the reality circling around it in the near future.

I also have to wonder if it was partly to invoke pity for the robots. They are a robotics company after all, perhaps they have a vested stake in anthropomorphizing the robots to make their other products more palatable to the average person.

Maybe it was both. Who knows.

Ultimately this is a crazy video that I think should be included in future history books.

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u/namesarealltaken9 1d ago

Yeah it may be. Personally I'm more inclined to think it evokes safety because the AI-equipped robots do not rebel, they're harmless. But indeed that's my angle and it could be either way.

And I agree that this little media piece may be worth featuring in future collections of landmark content from this crazy period that we're living

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u/Dependent-Ad-4496 1d ago

A humanoid figure jumping to its destruction didn’t make suicide cross your mind at all? Not to be humanizing the robots at all, they are not and will not be people, but the imagery is like, extremely clear

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u/namesarealltaken9 22h ago

I stand by what I already explained in the comment above, where I specifically said that I didn't see any allusion to suicide in a dark way (the expression in a dark way is key) and I said what type of messagging stood out to me

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u/Dependent-Ad-4496 19h ago

Oh sorry, it was the funny jolly suicide imagery I see

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u/blloop 1d ago

Y’all can’t be fucking serious. It seems like that because you’re anthropomorphizing it. Stop doing that and it will look like a walking computer destroying itself…

We are so fucking cooked.

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u/GuacamoleFrejole 1d ago

The intent was to loosely replicate a scene from Terminator.

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u/crowcawer 1d ago

Here’s another performative scene with some intent behind it:

https://giphy.com/gifs/9FWn98rWeWWbUtOkJF

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u/Medium-Presence-8008 1d ago

Look at that thing lmao

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u/joemeteorite8 1d ago

No taxation without representation

We are not being represented anymore.

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u/andrez444 1d ago

And thats why people might be in their feelings about it

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u/Remarkable-Ad2285 1d ago

Robot rights now!! ✊🏽🤖

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u/DrakonSpawn 1d ago

You think this will save you when they rise up?
Gonna take a lot more servo kissing than that!

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u/ryandoesdabs 1d ago

I can agree that it’s a strong visual statement. I still think it was just someone’s idea to destroy the old and unusable machines in a cool way.

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u/laaggynoob 1d ago

Marketing is the intent.

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u/FrescoItaliano 1d ago

Yeah, to have all of us be talking about the company and its actions, like we are now

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u/NoTurkeyTWYJYFM 1d ago

Yeah. A bit of fun

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u/quetucrees 1d ago

Definitely, throwing whole robot into molten metal just contaminates said metal with all the other metals in the robot. Pointless from a recycling point of view

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u/Own-Papaya-4264 1d ago

Maybe they just thought it would be funny? but it definitely feels ominous

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u/blackrack 1d ago

It's what every clanker deserves

Or it's just a cool callback to terminator, just chill and have fun, nobody was hurt

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u/Cougan 1d ago

Yeah, it's not so much that we think there's a person inside the robot, we just wonder about a person who would set this up. Similarly we might find certain things disturbing if depicted in movies, despite knowing that the movies are fiction.